Shady Trees
by Elguardiuz
Summary: Konoha has always been so proud of their loyalty and power. Each of the leaves are important to the tree, and each shinobi are just as important to the village. But some leaves are not as green and healthy as the village depicted it to be. Some leaves are toxic, and one in particular would not hesitate to poison the tree and bring it down with her. (Spy!Sakura and Team 7 Bonding)
1. Rotten Seeds

**Shady Trees**

Chapter 1: Rotten Seeds

* * *

"You're late, Sakura."

She closed the door behind her soundlessly. Muscles and responsibility forced her feet to move her feet to stand on the edge of the rectangular table, directly across the figure that just spoke. The wooden floor creaked under her weight.

She didn't have to look up from her pink locks to see that disapproving frown crawling its way up to his face. His tone was level, with no implication of emotion whatsoever. But she knew that deep down he wasn't happy. Well, it wasn't like he was often happy in the first place, but, you know, there are just moments when he was _extremely_ _unhappy._

He pushed his round glasses up his nose with his middle finger. The glasses glinted, reflecting the light from the lonely moon that entered from the window, next to the wall he previously was leaning on. Beside that window, the room was scarce of any source of light. It felt gloomy.

A sigh escaped his lips.

"Look, I'm sorry, I was held back by Ino because she-", she tried to reason.

"Yamanaka-san shouldn't even be one of your concerns anymore, and you know that." The boy in glasses, Kabuto, interrupted.

She did know. She had gathered, and successfully delivered the information needed about Ino 6 months ago. Ino was no longer her mission anymore.

"So, what did you get from the past week?" Kabuto asked, straight down to business, as usual. It was never sentimental between the two of them. Not one of that brother-sister relationship crap she saw some people have. Sakura and Kabuto had never met up for tea, or tell each other their deepest fears and wishes in the night, and they had certainly never discussed the pro-s and con-s of life under the blanket of a thousand stars. At least that was what she presumed siblings do to each other, since she never had any before. But still, she had hope that Kabuto deep down cared for her, like, deep _deep_ down. They've been working together for a hell of a long time, after all.

By his looks, the boy –no, man –in front of her couldn't be more than 16, or 17 years old. He had never told her his actual age, no matter how many times she begged him to. He always gave some kind of bullshit excuse like 'confidentiality', and 'privacy'. But he did imply that he was older than he looks.

He was also stronger than he looked, too. And way more dangerous.

"We did the academy graduation test today, and the team placements are going to be announced tomorrow. All of the students from prominent clans passed the exam, and _surprise surprise,_ Sasuke Uchiha got declared as Rookie of the Year." She said, her hand unconsciously fiddling with the strands of her hair.

"What about Naruto Uzumaki?"

She was used on reporting about Naruto, although she didn't gather her information by the means of direct contact. Kabuto had specifically told her to not ever talk to the boy. Never to engage any kinds of connection with him. When she asked why, he merely shrugged. (This was a sign for her to stop asking, as other follow-up questions will only be replied by similar manner. Kabuto can be such a secretive prick sometimes.) So she spied on him. She stalked him and noted his behavior and routine. Honestly, she felt sorry for the boy for being friendless. People of the village were downright hostile towards him; and she bet some of those people taught the kids at the academy to bully him as well.

He might have pulled some pranks, but they were mostly harmless –even hilarious, at times.

He didn't deserve this kind of treatment.

"Naruto Uzumaki did not pass the exam." She said with a sad tone.

It was a pity, though. She actually grew quite fond of the prankster and his theatrics.

Kabuto nodded solemnly, as if he had expected this. His long fingers ran through his silver hair; his signature ponytail still in place.

"And what about the team compositions?"

"I… don't know about that yet. When I sneaked into the Hokage's Tower this evening, I think they were still deliberating about it."

She didn't really _sneak in_. She actually walked through the front door, passed the guards and the obviously overworked receptionist, and pretended she had business to attend to.

It was astounding what a hurried pace and a determined no-bullshit facial expression can get you to.

"Tch, that will not do Sakura. When you don't know, presume." He said with a snarl.

"But you said to always rely on facts." She said in a low voice.

"I did. That's why you better make sure that those presumptions do become facts."

Her fear of Kabuto pushed down her eyes' request to roll. One of the things she figured out about working with Kabuto was that she would always be wrong. Never competent enough. Hell would be frozen before Kabuto would ever say anything remotely close to _good job_ if it was regarding espionage business to her.

"I wrote down the report in this scroll, my training results are also in here as well." She said as she waved the scroll with her right hand. She walked to the rectangular wooden table that separated them and placed the scroll on top of it. She slid it to his end so that he could take it. He unsealed the scroll and started reading.

"Hm," he pushed his glasses up with his middle finger again, "I see that you've covered the basics of the genjutsu I taught you. It's quite high-ranked, so don't be too upset if you don't master it in a couple of days. Your speed and chakra reserves have increased as well. Orochimaru-sama would be pleased."

Her stomach churned a bit at the mention of Orochimaru-sama. He might be pleased with her growth, but her last meeting with him hadn't been all that pleasant.

She sincerely hoped that she won't have to meet Orochimaru-sama again for a very long time. Honestly, the snake Sanin freaked her out a bit.

Kabuto usually handled all the meetings with Orochimaru-sama. He acted as a connection between her and the main base. He also acted as her mentor, and as a second spy as well. (Kabuto told her that Orochimaru-sama always dispatch spies in pairs. She never asked why, too used to all the weird secrets by then. She presumed it was because if the one of them died, the other could break the happy news to Orochimaru-sama, and then be killed by that snake because he was bored or something.) He pulled off the spy act better than she could ever hope to be (She had a nudging feeling that if he weren't on this particular career path, he would've done _so well in infotainment,_ this gossipy fellow). He had this aura on him that screamed normality and averageness. He made sure to never stand out in front of any crowd. No showing off in skills, no chuunin promotions (but he always participated in the exams. Just, you know, never actually _passed_ ), no crime history, nothing.

It made him often underestimated and looked down on. When there were crime acts near where he was, shinobis often deemed that he was considered not worth the time investigating on because of his low rank and dismal skills (at least on papers). Furthermore, his excellent chakra control made it very easy for him to suppress a large portion of his reserves; his technique was so advanced that most sensors weren't able to detect his presence when he didn't want them to; for example, when he was gathering crucial intelligence.

But when they did detect him, they always ended up mysteriously dead.

Sakura herself was quite a sensor, as Kabuto told her once, and had become super familiar with his chakra signature, courtesy to the joyful hours they spent together, but even she couldn't sense him if he didn't want her to.

The approval grunting noise made by Kabuto as he resealed the scroll brought her back to reality. He slipped the scroll to his weapon pouch, and clipped the pouch securely.

"Very well, keep meditating every morning. Your reserves still aren't where I want them to be. Practice some katas too. God knows your taijutsu could always get some improvement." He said, taking a jibe at her admittedly poor skill in hand-to-hand combat. She never did like taijutsu-practice. Running was fine, because endurance and speed was needed if she had to escape capture one day. But other than that, no.

"Okay, is that all?" She replied. She was always anxious to get out when they did one of these meetings. Even when she told herself that she had triple checked to make sure that no one was following her, even though she had already taken the long route to get here _just to make sure,_ even though she had made a perfectly reasonable reason to her (fake) parents about where she would be going, even though she had no reason whatsoever to be investigated by Anbu. She still had this feeling on the back of her head that someone –she wasn't sure who, but someone –knew that she was a spy.

And god was this feeling annoying as hell.

Kabuto closed his eyes, definitely tried to sense for any suspicious chakra besides the both of them nearby. He snapped his eyes open, and then widened with amazement for a split second. But after that his eyes were back to normal, which made her wonder, what could possibly shock him that much, or maybe if that was that just part of her imagination.

She was about to ask him when he nodded once; a sign that it was okay for her to get out of that shack.

Any curiosity she had in her head was pummeled by her _need_ to get the fuck out of there. Which some might say made her bad spy (because, you know, _thirst for information_ and all that jazz) but she didn't really care at that moment.

She quickly turned on her heels and made her way to the door. Her right hand had been brushing the door knob when Kabuto tossed her something. Her quick reflex reacted, and she caught the thing –a scroll, after she examined closer –with her left hand.

"I almost forgot. A present from Orochimaru-sama, for passing the graduation exams. Congratulations, Sakura. You're a genin now, a full-fledged ninja. Make this wonderful village proud." He said with a mock smile, his sarcasm impossible to miss.

She rolled her eyes at his comment, put the scroll into her pouch, before muttering a "See you later." at the boy.

And then she opened the door, and felt the cold night air enveloping her.

* * *

When Sakura arrived home, she silently creeped to her (fake) parents' bedroom and found them to be soundly asleep. Wasn't unusual though, considering it was already past eleven. She quickly made her way up to her own bedroom, locked the door, and sat on the bed. She contemplated on what happened during their meeting. She still hadn't opened the scroll that Kabuto tossed her on her way out.

She had gotten used on receiving gifts from Orochimaru-sama. He always gave her something on her birthday, and every time she begin another year in the academy

The gifts were always in a scroll; sealing scrolls, to be exact, marked by a symbol of a lone slithering snake. They carried different things though, but these things were always for practical reasons. (She never got frilly dresses or tiaras or magical unicorns like typical growing adolescent girls. She remembered sometimes she couldn't help but feel slightly jealous when Ami or Ino showed off their new, stylish, pink dress or something. She knew she outgrew those thoughts now, all 'mature' at the age of 12. But still…) On her birthdays she usually got battle-dresses, or different sets of weaponry. When she begun another year in the academy, she was given textbooks about genjutsu and medicine.

She debated with herself if she should open the scroll tonight. She glanced at the snake symbol once more, brushing her thumb across it. Opening scrolls from the the Snake Sannin had always been kind of nerve-wrecking for some reason. She steeled her will, and did the hand sign that Kabuto had told her long ago to unseal the scroll. The black markings that previously were imprinted all over the scroll receded onto a small tag. She plucked the tag open, and the scroll unsealed with a puff of smoke.

It was an Otokagure headband.

Her hands ran over the black leather, brushed over the steel plate which was marked by a solitary musical note. At the back of the headband attached a hand-written memo:

 _Cogratulations, Sakura-chan, for being a true genin._

 _Are you ready to come home?_

At first she wanted to burn the whole thing –both the memo and the headband.

But she figured that if Kabuto knew what she did, not only would she get punished, but it might fuck up the bizarre plan Orochimaru-sama might have in store for her. He won't give her stuff just because he felt like it. They always had a purpose, a function, a part of a bigger scheme that she was consequently a part of.

Plus, burning things inside her room would surely attract all kinds of unwanted attention.

So instead, she jumped outside, tore the note into small tiny pieces and let them dissolve in the river. And then she dug a hole near her house, tossed the headband in, and buried it with dirt.

On her way up to her room, she mulled over the content of the note. Orochimaru-sama had never openly discussed any long term plans with her. The only things he gave her are assignments and missions to complete.

But the thing was, she didn't know what Orochimaru-sama meant –she didn't have any home. Her home vanished a long, long, time ago.

* * *

She arrived in the academy early the next morning, earlier than usual. Her (fake) mom thought that she was having jitters from anticipating her new team. Her (fake) dad said that he was very proud of her for the twelve thousandth time on her way out. Their usual classroom was deserted except for Hinata –which Sakura found to always arrive first every single day, so it was no surprise when she saw her already sitting –and two other nameless kids. She recalled in her mind that the other two kids were sons of merchants. Minimally talented, which meant that they were nobody important enough to report on. She did a lazy wave to Hinata, which the heiress timidly responded, and dutifully ignored the other two. They always ignored her anyways, so she ignored the back. She sat on her usual seat, designated on the second row. Hinata was on the second to last row. She never did understand why the Hyuga heiress never sat in front. She obviously had first pick, and if Sakura always arrived that early, she would definitely sit on the front.

But she wasn't one to judge. Maybe Hinata deliberately arrived that early, precisely so that she could have first pick and sit on the back. Sakura didn't know the Hyuga very well –even though they were technically on a first name basis, at least on her part –but she did recall from her sources that a lot of academy teachers and clansmen felt that Hinata's timidity got in the way of her achieving her fullest potential.

And Sakura couldn't help but agree, it was a shame that someone with such a strong bloodline ended up being so s _hy_.

More students came rushing into the class, and after some time chatter began to buzz in the room. Someone was laughing in the back, paper balls were thrown across the room. She spotted Ino. Her platinum blonde swaying as she was cheerfully making a way to Sakura. Thankfully, she was stopped by a crowd of girls who distracted her by some menial talk about a new brand of nail polish ("It's on s _ale, Ino. 50% off." "Oh my God!"_ )

Sakura could say that she was quite close with Ino, at least compared to her other classmates. Under command, a few months ago, she had deliberately made herself likeable in a way that would guarantee to catch the interest of the Yamanaka. Sakura paid more attention to her physical appearance –and not necessarily in the muscle department –became slightly more vocal in her reaction towards everything, and started to express interest towards flower arranging. (It did take quite a toll on her taijutsu training regimen. But Sakura had never liked taijutsu training anyway, so it was all good.)

And then, 6 days after she began her change, Ino initiated a conversation with her on lunch break.

And the two had gotten along better than she expected.

Despite being vain and sometimes shallow, Ino did not just blab her clan's secret to Sakura like she originally expected her to. She was clever enough not to tell on the Yamanaka's treasure to a new friend with pink hair. But on the days that came after that, Ino did give her scoops about the politics of the village, even though it was given in a messy 11-year-old-like manner. Although Ino was proven not to give a damn about the clan politics of Konoha, her father seemed to be hell-bent on making sure that her only daughter was kept up with all the news. Which meant that Sakura also was kept up with all the clan gossip around the village; and clan gossip was always a welcome on her book.

Their friendship weren't special or any kind. It wasn't an intense rivalry or anything. They had never trained together because Ino was afraid her nails would break and her platinum blonde hair would be an intangible mess, on which Sakura was grateful for. Mostly, it was just her asking Ino stuff that common 11-year-olds shouldn't be asking, and Ino asking her to listen while she went on a rant about everything she has in mind. (Sakura won't lie and say that often times she wasn't amused by the blonde's antics) In the end, even though it was hard –harder than usual, at least –she managed to steal a basic scroll of Mind Transfer justu on a sleepover that Ino declared was due. She noticed that the scroll itself was never used, since they passed on that technique in a parent-to-child way, verbally. She also gathered enough information about the state of the Yamanaka clan, and the state of Ino individually. She collected information about Ino's test scores, mental and physical assessments, list of Justus she was able to perform well, aspirations, likes and dislikes, allergies, medical condition, relationship with teachers, families, and fellow classmates.

Just the usual stuff.

She never knew what all of these information were for. She just did what she was told. She hung out with the people she was told to hang out with, befriended people who she was told to spy on. And then promptly broke the connection off in a subtle way, so that they won't even wonder what happened. They'd just accept it, and move on.

Of course, in order for the relationship to come to that peaceful end, the relationship itself must not be so tight.

Theoretically, she should've broken her connection with Ino by now, just like she did with all the other people she spied on just to get intel.

But one crucial information she knew about Ino, she was persistent. And stubborn as a motherfucking rock.

Which made it even harder to shake her off.

So she stopped trying, and calmly said to assure herself that Ino would get bored with her and find a new friend. But Ino didn't, and she kept on pestering the pink haired girl onto menial activities like shopping and scouting on Uchiha Sasuke.

Which, after she has gathered the intel needed, she started declining every time by using some shitty excuse.

" _I'm so sorry, Ino, but I need to go home early, my mom is sick."_

" _Not today, Ino, daddy wanted me to help him fix the roof."_

" _Maybe next time? I didn't sleep last night because I was studying for today's test. Gotta catch some sleep now."_

It did take a toll on their friendship, just not as big as Sakura wanted it to be.

Ino was about to continue making a beeline towards Sakura's seat when Iruka-sensei entered the class, carrying a piece of scroll in his right hand. His signature ponytail still securely tight. Mizuki-sensei was noticeably absent. Iruka-sensei huffed, his expression worn out. The chuunin cleared his throat to catch the attention of the class as they settle down on their seats, anxious anticipating energy radiating off the whole room.

"First of all, I'd like to congratulate you all again for passing the graduation exam." Iruka-sensei began with a firm smile.

The class erupted into loud cheers and high-fives.

"Now settle down, I'm going to announce the team placements. After your name is called I want you to-"

Her homeroom sensei was interrupted by the sound of the door being banged open.

And Naruto Uzumaki entered the room.

She, like everyone else, stared at him, hard. And she, like everyone else, was thinking the same thing. _What the hell was he doing here?_ She was sure that she didn't see him leave the examination room with a headband. In fact, she saw him sat alone on the swing under the big tree of the Academy. His expression was devastated; like he lost something and he could never get it back. She wanted to go there and put her arms around him and mutter encouraging words.

But she didn't. Her job came first before all her wants.

And her job description unfortunately did not include hugging sad estranged boys.

"Ah, Naruto, so glad you could finally join us. Go take a seat. I was about to announce the team placements."

He didn't say anything, he just grinned his usual aloof grin. But something was different on this one, this one felt _brighter_ , like he was surer with himself. Sakura thought she went blind for a moment there, like she just stared at the sun.

Iruka-sensei smiled back, although his was much softer compared to Naruto's. But it was only for a split second and then he started reading the teams. The blonde walked in with confident strides, before settling on an empty seat in front of her.

Sakura was anxious. The members of the team that she was going to be in would definitely affect her job. If she got teammates like, say, the two talentless kids she met this morning, it would definitely help keeping her profile low. But that would make it harder for her to get her hands on some dirt worth reporting.

"Team Four…" Iruka-sensei's voice could be heard throughout the class.

But if she got a member the few major clans in her team, (there was a ground-breaking seven genins who came from one of the few major Konoha clans in her class. Lucky her.), she could get crucial information easily, especially about the drama between the clans. But scrutiny will definitely increase.

"Team Seven, Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha, and Naruto Uzumaki, under Jonin Kakashi Hatake."

Naruto's hand immediately shot up, "Hey, how come I'm paired with a chicken-haired bastard? So unfair, Iruka-sensei! And who's this Sakura girl anyway?" Sakura glanced to where Sasuke was sitting. He muttered, "Useless idiot" with a little sneer, before his face turned impassive. All in all, not exactly the ideal enthusiastic reaction.

But to say that Sakura was excited would be an understatement. She was paired up with two of Konoha's most controversial genins –definitely lots of gossips for Kabuto there. Not to mention that she was going to be taught under _the_ Kakashi Hatake.

She heard a lot of rumors revolving the Jonin. Mostly bad, some are downright horrible. But no doubt all of them spoke of him with a certain amount of _respect._ He was definitely a capable ninja. It was both thrilling and terrifying to be under the tutelage of such strong figure. Thrilling, because the Jonin would undoubtedly be a good influence for boosting her skills as a ninja. Kakashi Hatake was known to have copied at least one hundred techniques with his (rumored to be stolen) Sharingan. Surely he could at least teach her a thing or two.

And then it came to the terrifying part. She was mostly terrified because one, she was a fucking _spy._ One wrong move in front of him and bam, her head would be chopped. Two, by being the student of such a famed figure would definitely bring way more unwanted attention, which was bad because _see point number one._ And three, he was fiercely loyal to the village, and the village was fiercely loyal to him. He was one of the most trusted shinobi the Sandaime had. She remembered a couple of years ago, when she first started learning medical ninjutsu, Kabuto had made some remarks about how the Hatake had made his job harder.

That kinda spooked her a little bit.

 _Kabuto_ , the supreme, the great, the _ultimate spy,_ thought that Kakashi Hatake was a hindrance to his job.

She had seen how Kabuto worked. And to say that she was amazed by how _talented_ he was at this job did not even cover half of what she felt. Kabuto was good, damn good. And if this masked guy actually prevented a spy on Kabuto's caliber from doing their job, what would happen to her?

She wasn't a bad spy, by any means. (She was literally _born_ for this job, after all.) And in twelve years of her being one, she had never been caught. That for sure made her better than some people out there. But still, the idea that a person with this high of a reputation will be her teacher scared her shitless. Of course, none of these fears would have mattered she didn't pass the next test –the one that was given by the Jonin-senseis to freshly graduated, aspiring genins.

And she had learned, when she was conversing with a drunk Jonin last year while gathering intelligence about Asuma Sarutobi, that no student of Kakashi Hatake had ever _passed_ his test.

* * *

Sakura and the other two genins had been waiting for exactly one hundred and twenty five minutes. That was one hundred and fifteen minutes longer than the amount of time that they actually had to wait. The academy chair she had been sitting on for the last one hundred and twenty five minutes creaked as she shifted her weight.

Have she mentioned that they had been waiting for one hundred and twenty five minutes? Well even if she did, she had to mention it again.

They had been waiting for one hundred and twenty s _ix_ minutes now.

This sucked. Waiting sucked.

On the first thirty minutes or so of their wait, Naruto tried to initiate some form of conversation between the three of them, keywords being _tried to._ Sakura had no interest of talking to the blond at that moment, so she merely nodded and forced a smile whenever he said something, hoping he'd get her point which was _I don't wanna talk right now please go away._ Unfortunately he didn't get the memo, and kept on babbling his dreams and ambitions of becoming the Hokage for the seven hundredth time. That, and how new flavors of ramen were long overdue. Unlike Sakura though, the Uchiha heir didn't even bother to listen. He just said how stupid the blond was and moved to the other side of the room.

Unfortunately, Naruto took that personally as a blatant sign of major disrespect and threw out some colorful profanities at the Uchiha. Sasuke pretended he didn't listen and kept his gaze outside to the academy playground.

To be ignored, apparently, was another _no-no_ in Naruto's books. So he showed Sasuke what he _really_ thought by sticking out his tongue like a toad.

"Right, real mature." The raven remarked, rolling his eyes.

"Well, the same thing can't be said to you!" Naruto exclaimed, loudly. His finger pointed at Sasuke

"Sarcasm just seems to fly over your head now, doesn't it?" Sasuke remarked, his tone somehow got even more disinterested.

Sakura glanced at Sasuke, then back at Naruto, then back at Sasuke, and the she resolved to just slam her head to the table, and tried to feign sleep.

"Gah! Whatever. You two are so boring, why can't I get stuck with in a team with Ino-chan? I bet the both of us would be a perfect match! Our team would be so much better if Ino-chan was –"

Sakura stopped listening by then, and finally fell into a blissful slumber.

* * *

She woke up because of the sound of something falling, hitting a head. She lifted her head to see her supposed sensei, standing by the door with a chalkboard eraser resting on top of his head, and a blank expression on his face. His eyes scanned to rest on Sasuke, and then Sakura, before resting a second longer on Naruto.

"My first impression of you three is, I hate you all." He said with a smile. "Meet me on the roof in a minute." And then he poofed out of existence.

Sakura and her teammates glanced at each other, before Naruto spoke out what each of them had in mind, "What the heck was that!?"

* * *

"So, tell us a bit about you. Your likes, your dislikes, your ambitions, whatever you think we should know."

All three of them looked at him with expecting stares. When he failed to elaborate, Naruto opened his mouth. "How about you go first, sensei?"

"Well, my name had already been said by your Academy Sensei, so I see no point in repeating it. I don't like many things, and I'm no hater. My ambitions aren't something that I like share about." He smiled. Sakura thought he smiled a bit too much, not as much as Naruto though.

"Ah, now that we've got that out of the way, who wants to go first?"

Naruto, that spotlight whore, of course stood up first.

"Yeah, my name is Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki. Unlike you, I actually like a lot of things. I like ramen, gardening, and ninja …stuff. I hate getting ignored and bastards with poles so deep up their asses that they couldn't help but be a prick to everybody," the blond gestured his head towards Sasuke, "and I'm going to be the most respected Hokage ever. Believe it!" He finished with a fist-pump.

If there was one thing she knew about Naruto, he was always passionate. In everything he said.

There was a glint of something in Kakashi-sensei's eyes after Naruto finished his speech. But it was gone after when she blinked. She wondered if it was even there in the first place.

"Hm, very nice. Now you go, pinkie." The Jonin said dismissively.

She stood up, her hands brushing her pants to clean the dust from her dress. As she lifted her head to talk, she was met by expectants stares not only from her sensei, but also from her two teammates. She wasn't too surprised if they were curious with her. She had never flaunted herself and her skills in the academy, and she was never one to attract attention. There were no real benefits from doing so, so she simply didn't do it. This, of course, made the boys know minimal information about her. Good.

"Okay, uh, my name is Sakura Haruno. I like flowers and the smell of fresh mowed grass. I hate bugs, especially spiders. And I dream to be a renowned Jonin someday." She finished with a confident nod.

Simple, average, unmemorable. Just like how Kabuto taught her. Kakashi did a lazy smile, and quickly moved on to the last member of the team.

"And finally you, broody, go."

Sasuke's eyes went dark, as in darker than it already was. He made his hands cross in front of his mouth and his shoulder hunched a little. His face did a nasty scowl to perfect the whole _I'm trying to look cool and mysterious_ demeanor.

"Hn, I'm Sasuke Uchiha. I don't have any likings, and I hate stupid people. As for my ambitions… I want to kill a certain someone, someday."

….okay talk about _dark._

Kakashi nodded. Maybe he could read minds and agree with her.

"Now, I want you all to be in training ground seven at seven sharp, tomorrow. Don't be late."

"Awesome, are we training already?" Naruto said (or yelled. With him she could never tell the difference).

"Well, not necessarily. But I'll explain everything to you tomorrow. It'll be a fun survival exercise for the four of us. I suggest you guys to not eat breakfast, you'll just puke it out tomorrow. See ya."

And with that, he puffed out.

She glanced to take a look at the boys' expression. Naruto certainly looked pumped. While Sasuke merely shrugged, and then began to calmly walked to the stairs, leaving her and Naruto behind.

Naruto, who seemed to forget all about the incidents in the classroom earlier, ran after him while yelling out some stuff she wouldn't bother to care about.

Because she too, was excited about tomorrow.

She wouldn't lose to the boys.

She couldn't.

* * *

SO, this is my take at juggling Friendship, Action, and a bit of Humor, if you squint.

Yeah I like Sakura, and this fic will focus on the awesome internal drama she'll face as a spy of a village she had grown to love, and the people she had interacted consequently. AND ALSO, STRONG TEAM SEVEN! TEAM SEVEN BONDING! LOVE THAT SHIT.

I HOPE YOU GUYS ARE AS EXCITED AS I AM FOR THIS RIDE.

This is un-betaed, so if anyone is interested on becoming my beta, and if you guys detect any grammatical or spelling mistakes, just let me know. Through the review or PM, both ways are fine.

AND ALSO, leave a review so I'll know what works, and what sucks.

See ya.


	2. Two Bells, One Eye

Author's Note: I feel like I need to remind you guys that this was unbeta-ed. AND THIS WAS DONE AT 02.05 IN THE MORNING. So...

* * *

Chapter 2: Two Bells, One Eye.

"Begin!" his voice boomed across the clearing.

And the three genins scattered.

Kakashi was disappointed. The test had only just begun and he could already see the three of them failing. He had predicted it when they had their little chat the day before in the Academy roof. And the first 10 seconds of the test had proven his predictions to be true. The moment he stated that only two people will pass, all three of them looked at each other as if their teammates were shinobi from Kumo (well, two. Naruto kind of just stood there with his mouth agape).

When the Sandaime gave out the paperwork of this team, Kakashi was strangely hopeful. Hopeful that this team would turn out differently than all the other teams he had tested before. Hopeful, that maybe this team would show at least some form of anything remotely resembling of any kind of teamwork. Sadly, by the rate the test was going, he had low expectations that this team would meet his criteria to pass.

This team was definitely his most star-studded one yet, though; with the last loyal Uchiha and the boy with the sealed beast. The growth of these two would surely attract the attention of the higher-ups of the village, especially Naruto's growth, considering that the majority of the village regarded the genin as a ticking time bomb. He tried not to think about Minato-sensei every time he looked at the blond, which was hard. Mainly because they looked _so similar_ it physically pained him not to give the familiarities a second thought.

The blond in question was hiding behind a tree just north of where Kakashi was standing. It didn't take a sensor to know where he was. His chakra reserves were so large it beamed like a beacon in the night. The Uzumaki's hands were fiddling with something which looked suspiciously like a trap. _Huh, what do you know_ , his prankster days sure were a nuisance, but it did have its use. He had to give him credit regarding that trapping skills later, since nobody in the academy ever written or pointed it out.

The reports regarding Naruto were strangely biased.

Most of the academy teachers wrote his inability to follow even the basic instructions, his failure to contribute anything useful in class, horrible katas and shuriken-throwing skills, and the list went on. Heck, in all the years the boy went to the academy, the only praise he ever got was from the teacher from his last year, Iruka Umino. Iruka mentioned something about determination, and a strong sense of moral. He also pointed out that Naruto's stamina were miles ahead his peers, thanks to the horribly destructive (but hopefully in a good way) combo of the Kyuubi and the Uzumaki blood.

 _Good._ Kakashi thought, _stamina can determine whether you live or die someday._

The last (loyal) Uchiha was perched on a branch on the opposite of the field from Naruto. Unlike the blond though, Sasuke was being perfectly still. His right hand firmly grasping the branch he was on, his left hand hovering around his weapon pouch, ready to strike. It was clear from his stance that this kid has some kind of an aggressive nature; ready to trample his so-called teammates just so that he could pass.

Kakashi sighed. This was the type of arrogance that was such a _pain_ to deal with. More importantly, this was the kind of arrogance that will definitely _not_ make this team pass his test. Pride was a useless thing for a shinobi to have. He'd seen numerous skilled ninja died in vain, all because of their toxic pride. He'd have to remember to drill that into the boy's head if the team passed.

And that was a very big if.

As expected from the academy's top of the class, Sasuke's taijutsu and ninjutsu skill were reportedly above average. His speed in particular was noted to even be faster than the genins a grade above him. There has been no note regarding his sharigan state, whether he has awoken them or not. It could be possible that the boy was deliberately hiding his sharingan, or maybe he really hasn't manifested them yet.

The problem with the Uchiha was a problem commonly found in prodigies of big clans in Konoha: their head was too damn big. They're so full of themselves that in extreme cases they refused to seek help from others and resulted in their own, or others' death. Their cooperation skills are so low, it became funny. Kakashi would've laughed if he weren't one of those stuck up prodigies back in the days.

And now to the third member.

The pink haired kunoichi, Sakura Haruno, was not as well-known as her teammates. Came from a ninja background –both parents were active chuunins –and was adequate enough to be placed on a team as politically infested by the village as this one. Her academy marks were above average, but not enough to actually impress him. Her genjutsu marks though, were notably high. It seemed that when the Hokage was designing this team, he envisioned her as the support and disruptor while Sasuke and Naruto beat the enemy up. Classic assault team strategy. Always the simplest and often times most effective.

It took him a second longer –two seconds actually, but who cares about the details –to find her silently crouching under a bush near where Sasuke was. The jonin subtly glanced at her direction. She had a small opening on the bush, enough for her to have perfect visual of where he was standing in the middle of the clearing. He can't help but also notice that she had covered herself in a cloaking genjutsu, and tried to suppress her chakra. He had skimmed through the new curriculum that these kids were having, and he was certain that they had only covered chakra suppressing techniques in theory, but never in practice. Which meant that she had managed to figure that out by herself, or it was taught to her by her chuunin parents. The second option, he figured, was much more likely.

He was tempted to test out her proficiency in genjutsu when a barrage of wired shuriken flew at him. Sure, the wires made the shurikens slightly harded to dodge, but it wasn't that difficult for him.

Because, you know, _elite_ _Jonin_.

But he had to hand it to Naruto there. The shurikens were sort of creative.

Kakashi gracefully twisted out of the way without leaving his eyes from the erotic literature he was reading.

Naruto –or, Naruto-s, considering there were six of him –jumped out of his hiding spot and charged towards him with a kunai in his right hand. The Jonin's eyes widened a little, the academy stated that the boy wasn't even proficient to create one single clone, and now there was six of him, and all of them were solid. He wondered the credibility of the academy, these days.

Kakashi dodged every single one of the attacks Naruto and his clones sent to him. Stepping and leaning left and right easily. It really didn't take a genius to see that some of his katas were flawed, and sometimes incomplete. Naruto obviously had the brute strength and the energy, but the technique just wasn't there. _Which wasn't that surprising_ , the former Anbu thought, _since nobody was willing to teach him._

With a roundhouse kick, Kakashi dispelled all of his clones, and left the blond lying on the ground. His eyes still glued on his orange-covered book.

"Hm. I can't decide if you're ballsy or just stupid." Kakashi remarked.

"Shut up you pervert. I'm not done with you, yet!" the blond shouted while trying to stand up.

Kakashi knew the boy wasn't that stupid, considering he mastered a forbidden technique in one day. But it was fun nonetheless to tease him.

Naruto made a face, and was just about to spat out another remark when a barrage of shuriken hit his sensei spot on. Unlike Naruto's shuriken though, this time the shurikens were covered in _fire._

Kakashi fortunately substituted just in time with a log to not get any damage. It seemed like it was a new trend to throw sharp objects with certain modifications at him. He observed from his new hiding spot as Naruto sat up with his jaw on the floor, definitely thinking that Sasuke had just killed his sensei, and other similarly horrible thoughts.

"What the hell, bastard? Watch where you throw! You could've killed me."

The raven haired boy darted out of his spot on the tress into the clearing. He inspected where Kakashi's corpse should have been, and cursed. At least one of the two had figured out his use of Substitution no Jutsu.

"If I wanted to hit you, I would have done it already. Now get outta my sight."

Kakashi sighed, this was going to be one hell of a long day.

* * *

Sakura hated Kabuto.

More specifically, Sakura hated when Kabuto was right. Which was always.

Basically, Sakura hated Kabuto.

Kabuto had been mentoring her for years now. Ever since she was dispatched into this village when she was four, Kabuto had been her teacher. There had been no substitute, which wasn't weird. Since they were the only two Orochimaru-sama's spies here, as far as she knew.

So yeah, Kabuto had been teaching her since forever. And one of the first lessons she taught her was the lesson of _observing._

She was taught this lesson when she was five. And like most five year olds, she had a love for things that go boom. So she was hoping that he'd teach her cool techniques or even let her mess with explosive tags. But no, they spent most of that year learning how to sit still, breathe quietly, and observe.

(Sure, she was supposed to be good at gathering information or whatever, since that was her _job_. But you can't blame a five year old at that time to think that those lessons were mind-numbingly boring.)

One of the things he said after she was deemed adequate enough for them to move on to another lesson was, and she quoted, "When you're finally in combat, you'd thank me someday for teaching you this one."

And since she was in a kind-of-combat right now, she had the smallest urge to thank Kabuto because observing and gathering information was such a useful tool, she grudgingly admit. But the urge was there nonetheless. Her hate for Kabuto intensified.

(And sure, it was stupid for her to hate someone who taught her useful skills. But right now she was handling with a lot of puberty hormones and adrenaline. And also, you'd probably hate someone who was never proud of you on any occasion, and always undermine your accomplishment with some smart, twisted words. Ugh, that prick.)

The moment Kakashi signaled that the test had begun; she went for the hiding space near the bushes with an uncovered view of the clearing. Her eyes never left her soon-to-be sensei as she quickly made the hand sign to cast a cloaking genjutsu around her, and tried to suppress her chakra as strong as she could. She knew that the Jonin won't be fooled by a simple trick of visual genjutsu, since not only he has the Sharingan, but also because she knew he could at least detect her chakra, however small it was. But she had hoped that it would at least hide her from the other two, if they had any funny ideas. She tried to sense her teammates, and managed to pinpoint Naruto's location on her left, and Sasuke, who was closer to her, on her right. After she was finished trying to make herself hidden, she waited.

It wasn't until ten minutes of tense silence that a whirl of wired shuriken flew towards Kakashi. And obviously, he dodged all of them. She wasn't really surprised. In fact, she would've been more surprised if those shurikens actually hit its mark.

What actually surprised her was Naruto.

She knew that he was capable of fiddling with ninja tools. She'd seen him making modifications of the tools to suit his pranking endeavors, so she wasn't all that amazed by now that he could at least make wired shurikens. What surprised her, however, were his clones. Last time she checked, Naruto wasn't even capable of making a single clone, which made him fail on the graduation test. And now, not only did he pass the test; he could duplicate himself three times of the bare minimum –which was two. He didn't even look tired one bit. She wasn't even sure that six is the maximum number of clones Naruto can make.

The coolest part, however, was that those clones seemed _solid._ She copied a scroll of a justu called Shadow Clone Jutsu a year ago for Kabuto. He personally asked for this scroll because Orochimaru asked him to learn it. But back them, he suspiciously asked her to take it for him because a) He didn't have the time to take it himself. (Psh) and b) It was training for her. (Psh again.) (Really, was it so hard for him to just say that some jobs aren't accessible for him and can only be done by her?) (That prideful twat.)

She watched as Kakashi-sensei easily dispelled all of Naruto's clones, and left Naruto lying on the ground on his wake. She sighed in disappointment, even if his clone technique is impressive, it was still kind of stupid to challenge a famed Jonin in a close ranged combat.

In fact, it was actually stupid to challenge a famed Jonin at all.

She felt Sasuke's chakra flare, indicating he was doing a jutsu. Most likely a fire style. She had watched Sasuke over the years, and was quite impressed that he could master an elemental ninjutsu at such a young age.

Kabuto hadn't even touched the subject of elemental release yet, that bum.

Flaming shuriken hit Kakashi-sensei right in the chest. She wasn't worried though, she felt him reached out his chakra to a log just in time to substitute. As the decoy of what was once Kakashi-sensei fell down, Sasuke jumped out, trying to check if he truly killed their sensei.

 _HA, as if._

Once the raven found out that he didn't actually murder someone for the first time today, which he signaled by a very audible curse, he tried to get away from the scene as soon as possible. Probably a good idea, since he gave away his position to everyone. Naruto, too, after he gotten over his initial shock of _what the fuck just happened_ , got up, and jogged to the opposite direction Sasuke went.

Good.

Now her sensei was staying static. Not really moving anywhere, because he must've thought that nobody knew where he was hiding. This was perfect for her, since it seemed she was the only one to sense his location. When she attacks him later, he won't expect it, which in turn made his bells more vulnerable for her to take. The boys already tried getting the bells, and it must've taken a toll on their chakra reserves at least slightly. Well, Sasuke's has, Naruto didn't even use an eighth of his.

Okay, now she would just have to silently sneak to Kakashi's hiding spot, cast a dazing genjutsu just enough to snatch the bells, and then run to one of the othe–

"Hello Sakura."

 _What the fuck._

She turned around with a kunai in hand to see that yes, it was Kakashi-sensei who stood behind her. She unconsciously tried to scan for his chakra signature, and found almost none on the person in front of her. That's why she didn't feel it when he was standing so close to her.

Wait.

She also felt Kakashi's signature on his hiding spot. The chakra felt significantly stronger that the one standing in front of her.

"You're a clone." she stated boldly

"That I am. Curiously, Sakura, the academy never mentioned that you were a sensor," Kakashi said, tilting his head slightly to the right like a curious cat. "What they did mention however, was your noteworthy ability of genjutsu."

Kabuto said to never show of any skills in class. But for whatever reason, he said genjutsu was the only exception of that rule.

"Let's test that, shall we?"

She didn't have time to process that sentence as the clone morphed into flying leaves, surrounding her in an endless spiral upwards. The forest started to disappear little by little. Her mind tried to assess the situation she was in as images of burning rooftops and smoky houses started to enter her sight.

It was quite hard to make any sort of intellectual train of thought as the smell of burned rice paddies entered her mind. She was currently standing on a dirt road in the middle of a small village. Scratch that, she was standing in the middle of small _burning_ village. She saw ninja in musical note headbands burning every single inch of that _beautiful_ village and _oh God she was going to puke._

 _Calm yourself_ , _this isn't what it looks like. You're in Konoha. You're safe._

She clamped her hands together for a proper hand-sign, and spiked her chakra to cancel the genjutsu.

The burning village disappeared, leaving no marks on the surrounding trees. Her knees wobbled and she fell to the ground. It wasn't so much as the genjutsu, but the memories that was attached to it that made her feel drained. Her left hand went to her forehead, wiping some sweat.

 _You're in Konoha. You're safe, for now._

* * *

Kakashi was perched on a branch high up in the trees, his eyes still buried on his beloved orange work of art. He scanned his three students. Sakura was still sitting next to a bush where she'd been sitting since the beginning of the test. She managed to break free from his genjutsu, which was expected considering her grades. But she hadn't really moved since she cancelled the jutsu, maybe it was because of the shock? _Hell-viewing Technique_ showed a person's deepest fear. Maybe it was too much for a cute little genin. Kakashi would understand, these kids weren't used to be exposed to anything remotely resembled as pressure in their academy days.

Maybe Sasuke and Naruto might have, but not Sakura.

Naruto was sitting behind a tree, while Sasuke was now on the move. Jumping branches to branches moving closer to Kakashi's location.

Kakashi sighed, _here we go again._

Kakashi stepped out of his hiding spot to the clearing. He thought that it'll give better chances for Sasuke to land a hit if the terrain was more suitable for combat. Just as he expected, Sasuke leaped up from the trees to land a kick on him. Without looking up from his book, he side-stepped to the left, causing the boy to miss his target entirely. He turned a page.

Sasuke followed the kick with a sequence of basic-academy taijutsu. The raven aimed a right jab at his face, which he ducked as a kick followed said jab. This continued as Sasuke transitioned from one move to another flawlessly. Kakashi had to admit, the boy's form was almost perfect. Every kick was purposeful and every punch was precise. No movement was wasted. The boy's physical conditioning was above average for a genin as well. He was agile and powerful at the same time; moving in an unexpectedly fast pace.

That didn't mean Kakashi couldn't dodge every single one of his attacks though.

"Your attacks are surprisingly adequate, Sasuke, but unfortunately predictable. Maybe you should step it up a notch?" Kakashi said through his mask.

Sasuke's eyebrow ticked. He delivered a one-two punch which was blocked by the Jonin's right hand. Sasuke then delivered roudhouse kick, aiming at the reading man's legs. Kakashi simply jumped back a few meters, which made space between him and the genin.

"Well, I guess that's all you've got then? Pity how the great Uchiha clan is now reduced to the like of you." Kakashi remarked, trying to rile the boy up. He felt a strange, fucked up sense of self-accomplishment as he saw the boy became furious.

Sasuke might have been slightly ticked at the Jonin's behavior before, but now he was pissed. Not only was the Jonin not taking him seriously, but he was also goading him while he was at it.

This time, he doubled up his speed. He leaped to deliver a kick to the Jonin's face, who blocked it easily with his left hand. He jumped back before delivering a series of fiery punches, all of which was dodged by Kakashi without breaking a sweat. Sasuke twisted his body to the left to deliver a turning kick to the shoulder, when Kakashi's eyes widened, and the attack hit.

Kakashi wasn't the only one surprised by the attack landing on its mark. Sasuke's eyes were equally widened. His mouth parted a little before twisting into a trademark smirk, confidence radiating off him. To hit a Jonin at his level meant that all of his training paid off.

Kakashi staggered sideways a bit by the force of the kick. Sasuke wasted no time following the kick with an aggressive lunge towards the bell, grazing his fingers at the shiny metal before Kakashi twisted his waist away from the boy's hands. The Uchiha gracefully summersaulted before landing on the ground, facing the Jonin.

"Still think that's all I've got?" Sasuke said lowly.

Kakashi shrugged noncommittally, "Lucky hit. I wasn't expecting that one. I doubt it'll happen again though." He finished. His eyes darted to the left, in the direction of a bush.

Sasuke proceeded to launch himself at Kakashi, delivering punches and kicks to no avail. Kakashi dodged and danced around him, before tripping the boy's right foot, causing him to summersault away. He landed on both feet, as Kakashi eyed him with a returning disinterest.

"See? I told you. Lucky hit." The Jonin remarked.

Sasuke was royally angry now. This person just wouldn't shut up. He went to a series of hand seals, before launching a fireball from his mouth. _Fire Style: Fireball Justu._ He pushed an extra amount of chakra into this particular jutsu, forcing it to burn longer and hotter than usual, hopefully burning the man to crisp.

The ground where his sensei once stood was engulfed in red hot flames. The explosion charred the ground to rubbles and a smear of black. Sasuke walked to take a closer look. He was slightly disappointed to find that there was no dead, burned, masked body on said ground.

Sasuke cursed, _another substitution,_ he scanned his surrounding for his sensei. Where could he possibly be? His instinct guided him to search all the directions his sensei could be attacking him from. _Left, right, front, back, up. Nothing._

"The academy trained you quite well, Sasuke," the Jonin's voice said, surrounding the raven, "but I guess they didn't train you to look down." he finished as he dragged the boy's ankle (and consequently, the rest of his body) underground.

* * *

Sakura watched with a slight disappointment from the bushes as Sasuke was dragged underground by that vicious son of a bitch. Sasuke looked positively annoyed, but it had no real menace to it, considering only his head was above the ground. Kakashi poofed into existence near the boy's head with a condescending smile. She caught bits and pieces of the Jonin's lecture to the boy; something about 'power' and 'loyalty'. She couldn't care less, to be honest. What she cared about, however, was that the Jonin's back was turned to her spot.

She didn't have any delusion that she could defeat the Jonin in a direct combat. It was stupid to think like that, and Sakura believed that she was anything but. She knew that the same genjutsu wouldn't work on the man. At least, it wouldn't work twice. She casted an C-class genjutsu on the Jonin when he was fighting Sasuke. She felt her jutsu latched to the Jonin, milliseconds before the Uchiha's kick landed. _Genjustu: Bewildering Steps_ causes the target to feel unbalanced and shaky, as if an earthquake happened. This sometimes led to a dizzying and nauseous feeling if not dispelled soon. Kabuto gave her a scroll of this justu as a birthday present when she was ten years old. She didn't know if that was accidental or intentional on Kakashi's part to be caught by a genjustu as simple as that, but what she knew was that it won't happen again.

But still, seeing as the Jonin was preoccupied lecturing Sasuke with his guard down and back facing her, and with Naruto nowhere to be seen, she couldn't miss out on this opportunity. She had read multiple battles and cases of weaker parties who won battles only because their enemy let their guard down. She knew that strength wasn't the only deciding factor in combat, element of surprise, luck, and environment, were also crucial factors determining the outcome of a battle.

She knew that at least the element of surprise was still there for her. Kakasih won't suspect her to attack again after that genjutsu stunt she pulled on his fight with Sasuke.

Even if she didn't get the bells, at least it would show Kakashi that she wasn't one to be disregarded. At least it would show effort on her part.

She tried to remember the tactics of surprise attack Kabuto told her on their training; his voice muttering tips and pointers in her head. Sometimes she wondered if every student has their teacher's voice talking shit in their heads, or if it was just her. She focused herself on what the white haired guy said about ambushing.

 _First, know where your target is._

She eyed Kakashi's waist to see where the bells were hanging, untouched. The Jonin was still talking to Sasuke, his back was still turned to her.

 _Prep yourself._

She absentmindedly ran her right hand to her pouch, feeling her kunais and senbons, her hand stopped to grip a set of kuani tied to smoke bombs. This morning she deliberated if she should clad her weapons with Orochimaru-sama's poison or not, but she decided against it. She doubt that this was what he meant by emergency. Her left hand formed a seal to subdue her chakra's presence as hard as she could. She closed her eyes to scan for Naruto's chakra. He was sitting down near the logs far away from them. _Good,_ she thought, _he won't be an obstacle._

 _Cause a distraction._

She opened her eyes and threw two smoke bomb tied kunai at the Jonin. She spiked her chakra with a hand sign to explode the smoke bomb. The explosion caused the kunai to completely escape its intended trajectory, but it didn't matter, because the attack has served its purpose. Gray, and thick, smokescreen filled the clearing, reducing visibility to only a couple of meters. Smoke had always been her first choice of distraction in combat, even when training with Kabuto. Mainly because it gave her exclusive benefit of pinpointing location of everyone even in an open field, due to her chakra-sensory abilities, while also crippling others' visibility.

She ran through a series of hand signs quickly, and silently cast a stunning B-Class Genjutsu.

 _Genjutsu: Heavyweight_

This was one of the few high classed and trickier genjutsu Kabuto showed her recently. It basically messed with the motoric part of the brain to inflict a sense of heaviness when they try to move their limbs. The target will be left stunned, unable to move an inch of their body, or even cast the proper hand sign to dispel the genjutu.

Of course, it only took Kakashi half a second to realize that he was trapped in a genjutsu, and another half to spike his chakra to dispel it. But that was all Sakura needed.

 _Attack fast, finish quickly._

The pink haired girl commanded chakra to her heels, and released it to propel herself forward, kunai in her right hand. She hoped the smoke and her chakra suppression technique masked her presence enough for the attack to work. She scanned and locked Kakashi's chakra, focusing on his waist where the bells hung innocently, free for her to take. She jumped forward to snatch the bell, hands outstretched. _It was literally right there._

A glove clad hand captured her wrist in a death grip as her pointer touched the bell. She looked up to meet the Jonin's eyes. He looked at her curiously, almost confused, with his eyebrow raised and his eyes fierce, almost calculating. And the two of them were stuck there, staring at each other for a millisecond or two, Sakura being midair and the Jonin being confused.

Well, that was before the Jonin's grip on her wrist became more secure, and he flung her all the way across the clearing.

The girl twisted midair, while trying to land on both feet. She cursed Kakashi internally on her aerial journey to the cold hard ground for throwing her and being such an ass, but mostly for throwing her. She did land on both feet, before the momentum of the fall pushed her backwards, forcing her to lie on her back on the ground.

With her hand outstretched to the sides, her hair dirty with dirt, her battle dress torn, and her kunai nowhere in hand –she suspected it fell from when Kakashi threw her –she wondered how this test could get any worse.

She muttered a small _fuck my life_ when the bell rang loudly, signaling the end of the test.

* * *

"Hey! How come I'm the only one tied to a freaking log!?" Naruto exclaimed; his hands and legs flailing around him through the secure ropes binding him to a large training log. His expression settled to a juvenile scowl at his sensei, the one who, Sakura presumed, tied the boy there.

The Jonin in question smiled, followed by a cheerful "Because you were the only one who tried to steal the lunch, Naruto, plus the other two managed to at least touch the bell, which you also failed to accomplish. That's already two charges against you." Kakashi finished. Naruto deflated, and proceeded to sulk.

She let out an annoyed sigh and messaged her forehead with her hand. Naruto had done some stupid things in the past, but trying to steal lunch when their famed future Jonin-sensei had specifically told you _not to_ was definitely top five. Really, he has outdone himself.

She casted a glance at Sasuke, who was sulking and looked annoyed. (Well, more than the usual dose) She figured that it must have been embarrassing for him to be caught in that jutsu, with only his head above the ground. He seemed angry at himself, irritated because he failed.

"So, remember what I said about how the ones that fail will have to go back to the academy?" Kakashi-sensei began.

Sakura gulped, and glanced at Naruto. She knew that none of the succeed completing the original task given. But Sasuke and she managed to at least touched the bells. While Naruto…

Naruto seemed to share her thoughts about where the Jonin was going with his statement. The blond ducked his head down, anticipating the bad news from Kakashi-sensei.

"I think the three of you should just quit being a ninja." He said curtly. His tone was dead-serious, his face blank –devoid of all the playful emotion he projected since the day before.

She felt Sasuke tensing, and Naruto's eyes widened in shock. Sakura herself was at loss of words. She knew that none of them managed to snatch the bells, but not one, but two people from this team managed to touch the bells. She was willing to bet her kidney that that was the closest any of Kakashi's past student had ever gotten, surely that counted for something.

"But Sasuke and I… touched the bells..." Sakura began unsurely, she wasn't gonna lie, this Kakashi intimidated her.

The masked man looked at her, his eyes squinting, scrutinizing her. She wanted to cover herself from the intensity that radiated off him. Kakashi-sensei proceeded to look at each member of the team, before finally settling his eyes on her once more.

"Did you honestly think this test was about getting the bells? Did any of you honestly think you could win against a Jonin alone?" the Jonin asked in a serious tone.

Sakura merely shook her head slowly, as Naruto looked confused, and Sasuke kept silent, unmoving from his spot. His face remained rigid and tense.

"The fact that none of you even figured out the true purpose of the test shows enough how unequipped you are for the real world of shinobi." The Jonin finished.

Sakura watched from her peripheral vision as Sasuke dashed to Kakashi-sensei, kunai in hand aiming for the throat. She was slightly impressed by the boy's speed, and judging by Naruto's opening jaw, the blond did too. But unfortunately, Kakashi-sensei was faster. Before Sakura could even figure out what the hell was going on, Sasuke was already pressed on the ground, kunai on his throat. The masked man was standing on top of him, his foot pressing the boy's torso to the ground.

"See? Stunts like this are one of the reasons you three failed. I wasn't done speaking." Kakashi pressed his foot harder down.

"The purpose of the test is teamwork," Kakashi began, "that was the purpose of having a four man team. So that teamwork can be implemented and missions can be done efficiently. Being on a team also means that sometimes, personal agenda and glory," Kakashi pressed his foot on Sasuke again, "needs to be casted aside for the mission to succeed."

The Jonin finally released Sasuke, and made a couple of steps back. Sakura rushed to help the raven stand up, but was brushed aside with a jerk of an arm. The boy stood up and averted any form of eye-contact with his team.

"But," the Jonin began again, his voice softer this time, "I can't deny the potential in this team presents. So I'm going to let you guys try again."

Sakura could instantly felt the change of mood on her team. Naruto's face glowed and looked positively thrilled. Even Sasuke's eyes turned hopeful.

"After lunch, we're going to try to do the test again. In the meantime, don't give Naruto any lunch. If you do, I will disqualify all three of you." He ended with a curt tone. He put down two boxes of bento on the ground, and pooffed out of existence.

The three of them stared at the bento for a while, silently, unblinking, before Sakura broke the spell by walking to pick the bento up. She mulled over what Kakashi-sensei said as she and Sasuke broke their chopstick to eat their lunch. Something didn't quite add up, the whole premise and purpose of this test was built on the instilling teamwork, team spirit, _solidarity_. That was why there were only two bells; to fuck with their heads make them turn against each other, Sakura concluded. On that test, they were supposed to show solidarity and try to take the bells together, regardless of the outcome. So if that was what Kakashi-sensie was championing, it would be inconsistent for him to _deliberately leave_ only two boxes of bento. It wouldn't be in line with what he taught earlier. Unless…

Her eyes widened, _unless this was another test…_

A test of whether they have the team spirit, and were willing to break rules for each other. She didn't know if this was the case or not, but she decided that there were no real harm in trying. (Because, she honestly felt that even when the three of them worked together, they would still be overpowered by Kakashi-sensi, so no real point in doing the test again…) Now she only had to act convincing, she could sense Kakashi near them, but she couldn't exactly pinpoint where exactly. She gathered rice on the tip of her chopstick and brought it to Naruto, the same time Sasuke did.

"Here."

"Eat up, dobe."

Sakura widened her eyes at Sasuke, surprised he had also figured out the meaning of the test. The raven also had his eyes fixated on her. His eyes surprised, but wasn't hostile in any sort of way. (Which was considered, sadly, a _development_ for the boy from his usual self)

Naruto, on the other hand…

"G-guys, what are you doing?", the blond said in an attempt-whisper, "He literally told you guys not to feed me! We're _so_ screwed if he finds out…" he said in panicked eyes.

Sasuke growled, "Don't be stupid, dobe. You'll need energy to fight later. You'll drag us down more than usual if you're hungry." He finished as he shoved the chopstick closer to Naruto.

Sakura nodded in agreement, even though she still believed that if everything went exactly as she thought it would, they wouldn't even have to fight. "Besides, I think Kakashi-sensei is watching us." She said in a whisper. She watched as Naruto looked left and right in panic; scared that their scary sensei were standing right behind him. Sasuke also tried to look to his left and right, albeit more subtlety.

"I can't feel him anywhere." Sasuke remarked.

"Trust me, he's there. I can sense him." Sakura replied.

Sasuke looked at her for a second, before he finally settled to a conclusion, "You're a sensor."

She smiled; Kabuto had cautiously and continuously taught her to never disclose her abilities to the enemy. But when she saw Sasuke's grudging acceptance that there were things she could do better than him, and Naruto's awed and amazed expression, she couldn't help question why it was so bad to do this once in a while? She felt proud, and slightly cocky.

"Wow Sakura! That's so cool. How does it feel like? Does it feel like having twenty eyes, seeing everywhere at once? That must be so wicked." Naruto said.

Sakura smile at the boy. "I'll tell you how it feels like after you eat."

Naruto ate the rice, seemingly forgotten his concerns of Kakashi-sensei's prior threat. The blond was obviously hungry, as he devoured food from both Sakura and Sasuke's bento quickly. Sakura was still waiting for Kakashi-sensi to poofed out, and yell at them for disobeying him, or to come back with confetti and a parade of animals, each holding a letter from the word 'congratulations!'

But she honestly didn't know what to expect when Kakashi _finally_ poofed into existence.

The three genin stared at him. And he stared right back.

The staring match was unbroken before his face broke into a proud smile.

"You guys pass."

And Sakura felt all kinds of energy left her body right there and then.

* * *

OKAY, that's that. Second chapter to hopefully many more.

Look, don't be afraid to point out wrong grammars or spellings and such.

I AM STILL LOOKING FOR A BETA! And I feel like I really really need one. So don't be afraid to approach me through PM or review. I don't bite. Much.

See ya!


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